In this first column of the New Year, it is entirely right to pay tribute to our NHS staff. We surely can’t praise them enough. Heroes one and all, they’ve been there working to protect us from Covid and care for us when ill.

How fittingly were their sacrifice and unstinting work rewarded with a new Watford hospital on the present site alongside upgraded facilities at Hemel and St Albans.

After almost 12 years of Tory government, only now has the money been forthcoming for West Herts Hospital Trust to draw up more detailed plans for a new hospital, despite opposition from the Conservative MP for Hemel Hempstead. Now is the time for a commitment from the government to provide all the funding necessary for its construction. No more delays.

Watford Observer: This masterplan sketch indicates one way in which the hospital and the remainder of the site to the north could be built out in future. The illustration shows the wards organised into three finger blocks. The Riverwell development surrounds it. Credit: We

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Labour will continue to campaign and work to ensure our hospital doesn’t end up like the Government’s much heralded but ultimately broken promise of rail improvements in the north, which fizzled out and hit the buffers.

Working as a vaccine volunteer, I’ve seen first-hand the dedication and care that GPs and NHS staff provide, efficiently rolling out the vaccines. It’s the NHS, not the government delivering this success.

While NHS staff, now facing a wave of Omicron, put themselves in harm’s way and continue to risk their lives, in stark contrast Boris Johnson strolled around a hospital without a mask and he and his chums quaffed wine and devoured cheese in Downing Street – what an enormous gulf between the actions of those meant to be in charge and our fantastic NHS staff.

  • Cllr Asif Khan is chairman of Watford Labour Party